EU: Apple Needs Stronger In-App Purchase Protections

While Google has made firm commitments to improve its in-app purchase processes, Apple is still lagging, the EU said.

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The European Union wants Apple to do more to stop inadvertent in-app purchases.

In a Friday update to an ongoing investigation into in-app purchases, the European Commission said that while Google has made firm commitments to improve its processes, Apple is still lagging.

For instance, by September 2014, Google will remove the word "free" from all games that contain in-app purchases, and display price ranges for those in-app purchases. The Web giant will also provide targeted guidelines for developers so they can avoid encouraging children to make micro-transactions, and require a password before every in-app purchase unless the consumer opts out.

Apple, meanwhile, "has proposed to address those concerns," but "no firm commitment and no timing have been provided for the implementation of such possible future changes," the EU said today.

According to the commission, Apple now displays the text "In-App
Purchases" in close proximity to the download button for all apps that are marketed on Apple's platforms as "free" but that offer "in-app purchases". But that text is small, the EU said.

Apple also proposed the creation of an email address that enforcement agencies can use to inform Apple of developer-related violations, and another for customers who have complaints about in-app purchases. But Cupertino has yet to say when exactly that will happen, the EU said.

Apple and Google require users to enter passwords when making purchases or downloading apps on their app stores. But Apple leaves the purchase window open for 15 minutes after a password is entered, which the EU said "should not remain the default setting in the future." Google provides users with three options for passwords: every purchase, every 30 minutes, or never.

Neither tech giant is a stranger to in-app mishaps: In January, Apple agreed to refund at least $32.5 million to customers in an FTC settlement over unauthorized in-app purchases made by children. In March, Google was sued by a California woman whose children made about $66 worth of in-app purchases over the course of 30 minutes.

"In-app purchases are a legitimate business model, but it's essential for app-makers to understand and respect EU law while they develop these new business models," Neelie Kroes, EU vice president responsible for the Digital Agenda, said in a statement.

Any future enforcement, including legal action, now rests in the hands of the national authorities, which the EU said will decide how to address outstanding legal issues.

Though Amazon hasn't yet entered the EU's crosshairs, the company recently found itself in hot U.S. water, when the Federal Trade Commission sued the e-retail giant over accidental in-app purchases. The agency also asked that Amazon forfeit any money made from those unauthorized purchases.

Stephanie began as a PCMag reporter in May 2012. She moved to New York City from Frederick, Md., where she worked for four years as a multimedia reporter at the second-largest daily newspaper in Maryland. She interned at Baltimore magazine and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (in the town of Indiana, in the state of Pennsylvania) with a degree in journalism and mass communications.
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